Constellations
by do i need a pen name
Summary: The Weasley and Potter cousins make sure that life is never easy for their family. Their latest accomplishment? Ron's ongoing agony over the naming of his first grandchild. Why, oh why, did his Rosie have to marry into the Black family? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**a/n-Technically a sequel to Family, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but then I just kept typing and typing and typing, like I tend to do. So now it's going to be several chapters long—at this point I think about five. It can also be read as a standalone story. Enjoy!**

**Constellations**

**Chapter One**

In his younger days, Ron Weasley had, without a doubt, positively loathed Draco Malfoy.

Things had changed a bit following the Battle of Hogwarts and the Malfoy's defection from the Death Eaters, but not by much. For example, he wasn't about to go out and demand that Malfoy become his best friend. In fact, being more than casual acquaintances was, quite frankly, stretching it just a tad too much for Ron's liking. But there were more important things in life than wasting time thinking about an old school grudge and all that it had evolved into.

In fact, after May 2, 1998, the next time Ron actually saw Draco Malfoy was more than nineteen years later.

That isn't to say that he hadn't heard about things that Malfoy was up to over the years. In the years immediately after the war, the Malfoy name could be spotted here and there in the paper every so often. They were short stories, perhaps a paragraph or two at most; little pieces that made it clear to anyone with common sense that the Malfoy family was truly trying to clear it's name and put it's dark past behind it.

Naturally, Ron was still less than fond of the blonde ferret.

When he finally did see Malfoy again, he had actually been quite surprised to see him. They were both at King's Cross Station; both to see off their oldest (and, in Malfoy's case, only) child on the Hogwarts Express for the very first time.

Now, Ron had known that Malfoy had gotten married. He vaguely recalled Hermione mentioning it several years back—more than several, if the other man was seeing his son off to Hogwarts, he realized with a slight jolt. Merlin, he was getting old. But anyway, upon seeing Malfoy there that day, he had also remembered that Malfoy had had a son, just around the same time that Rose and Al had been born—Scorpius, his name was. To say that Ron was less than enthused about the prospect of his only daughter going to school with Draco Malfoy's son would be a severe understatement.

And of course, Al had to go and make friends with the boy after they were both sorted into the same house. When he finally got around to meeting the boy, though, Ron had to grudgingly admit that perhaps little Scorpius wasn't quite so bad. It went without saying, though, that his Rosie was still expected to beat him in all of their classes.

It was when Rose was just seventeen, fresh out of her sixth year at Hogwarts, that what Ron had always feared most came to pass.

Rose—his dear, sweet, wonderful Rosie—was dating Draco Malfoy's son. Had been dating him quite happily for the past year, in fact. They had been keeping it a secret because they had feared their parents reactions to the news of their relationship (and rightly so, in Ron's opinion). Naturally, Ron had been just a tad miffed when Rose told him, but he eventually came to begrudgingly admit that Scorpius really was a fine boy and that maybe, just maybe, Draco wasn't _quite_ so horrible as he had been, back in their school days.

Although Ron had known Scorpius before the younger Malfoy began dating Rose, he had gotten to know him better afterwards. As time passed, he even came to care about the boy almost as a son. It would have been a shock to any and all who had known them in their Hogwarts days, but Ron even became better acquainted with Draco, their former status as arch-enemies only brought up from time to time in a joking manner.

And so, when Rose and Scorpius finally got around to getting married—after they'd been out of Hogwarts for more than five years—Ron was nothing short of pleased. If there was anyone who was a perfect match for his Rosie, it was Scorpius Malfoy.

Rose and Scorpius had been married for several years when Ron received even greater news: he was going to be a grandfather. This was a fact that delighted both he and his wife, Hermione, beyond belief. Indeed, he couldn't see any possible downside to having a grandchild. It didn't even matter to him that his grandchild would technically be a Malfoy, too. If anything, that simple fact made the whole situation even more brilliant. What better thing could there be than a _Malfoy_ who was also a _Weasley_?

However, there was one thing Ron hadn't counted on. One thing that he had never even given the slightest thought to, until he was sitting in the waiting room at St. Mungo's with quite a few assorted family members, nervously awaiting the arrival of their newest member. It was something that his nieces and nephews felt the need to bring up while discussing what they thought Rose and Scorpius might name their little bundle of joy.

"Names are tricky," Dominique commented thoughtfully, "There are so many options out there, it's hard to know where to even think about starting."

"And of course we can't forget that Rose and Scorpius might delude themselves into thinking they're celebrities or something and name their baby something utterly ridiculous," Roxanne put in.

"That does make it significantly harder," Louis agreed. "Not only do we need to consider every single name known to mankind, but we also need to take into account every single possible combination of letters in the alphabet."

"And quite possibly numbers, too," Molly added in quickly. "Clearly no easy feat."

"Personally," James began rather lazily, "I think you're all over thinking this just a _bit_ much."

Ron really couldn't agree more. Besides, his Rosie was very rational. She wouldn't name her baby something ridiculous like some of those muggle celebrities he'd heard do over the years…would she?

"Oh really?" Lily questioned her older brother. "Would you care to explain?"

"It's rather obvious, isn't it?" James asked. "They'll follow family tradition when they name the baby."

"Family tradition?" Victoire asked dubiously. "We have tradition when naming babies?" She turned to Teddy, here. "Did we know this when Dora and John were born?"

"Well…" Teddy said slowly, "They _are_ named after people." He turned back to James. "Is that what you mean?"

"Well, no," James admitted. "Though you do have a point. A fair few of us _are_ named after people."

"Then what were you talking about?" Albus practically demanded of his brother.

"I was talking about _Scorpius'_ family tradition," James said, as if this was the obvious answer.

"Care to enlighten us?" Fred asked. "What, pray tell, is this Malfoy family tradition for naming children that you apparently know so much about?"

"Strictly speaking, it isn't actually a _Malfoy_ family tradition," James stated. "I'm talking about the _Black_ family. It doesn't matter if they're a few generations removed from the actual surname, clearly Scorpius' dad followed the tradition, and I'd be willing to bet my new broom that Scorpius will too."

"Your new broom? Really?" Dominique questioned eagerly. "I'll take you up on that one."

"Well, maybe not," James hastened to say. "We do have to take Rosie into account, after all."

"You haven't actual told us what this supposed tradition is yet, James," Lucy said, just a touch of impatience in her voice.

"Oh yes," James said quickly, "Well, the Black family is notorious for naming their children after the celestial bodies." Several of his cousins still looked confused. "The stars," He stated simply. "They name their children after the stars. And, more often than not, the constellations."

"So, just to clarify," Louis began slowly, "You're under the impression that Rose and Scorpius are going to name their new baby after a constellation?"

"Yep," James said succinctly, leaning back in his chair.

"You know…" Lily said slowly, "While, under normal circumstances, I feel as if we might point out how flawed your logic is, James, surprisingly, I think it kind of actually makes sense."

"I'm going to have to agree with Lily on this one," Hugo said. "Especially because I can totally see my sister deciding to go with tradition."

"And being named after a constellation could certainly be considered unique," Victoire said agreeably. "Which is something else I feel that Rose and Scorpius would go with when picking a baby name."

"So we're agreed then?" James asked the group of cousins at large. "We all think Rose and Scorpius will pick a constellation name for their baby?"

As all of his assembled nieces and nephews gave their assent to this idea, a feeling of utter dread swept over Ron. As much as it pained him to admit it, his nieces and nephews had a point. It _was_ a Black family tradition. Why wouldn't Rose and Scorpius name their new baby after a constellation?

Oh sweet Merlin, his first grandchild was going to be named after a _constellation_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Ron really couldn't spend much time thinking about this new realization even if he wanted to, though, as the younger Weasley's and Potter were talking again. Unconsciously, Ron leaned in closer to continue listening in on their conversation.

"It would help if they weren't so secretive," Al complained. "Knowing if it was going to be a boy or girl would really help us narrow down their options for them."

"And then we can bet on the outcome," Fred said with a grin.

"You do realize that Rose _will_ kill you if she ever finds out that one of your little bets had anything to do with her child, right?" Roxanne asked her brother. "I mean, you don't have a death wish, do you?"

"Point taken," Fred said swiftly. "We'll just have a friendly conversation about it. So, how many constellations are there, anyway?"

"There must be thousands," Molly said with a small groan. "And here I thought we were trying to make things easier on ourselves."

"Actually," Lucy, ever her father's child, spoke up at that moment. "There are currently only eighty-eight recognized constellations."

"And _how_ in Merlin's name do you know this?" Molly demanded of her sister.

"I was actually just reading a book about the constellations and other celestial bodies," Lucy replied, indicating the previously abandoned book sitting on her lap which, indeed, was about the constellations and other stellar phenomena. "It's quite fascinating, really."

"Does it by any chance happen to have a list of all of the constellations?" James asked excitedly.

"Names, origins, meanings, locations," Lucy said, glancing through the pages. "All of it."

Ron couldn't help but think that it was incredibly lucky that Lucy just so happened to have a book with all of the necessary information about constellations on hand at this precise moment. If this was anyone else other than Lucy, he might almost find it suspicious. However, the truth of the matter was that the book _did_ belong to Lucy, who was much too smart for her own good at times (a bit like her father, Percy, actually), and who liked to spend her free time reading books that any other person would consider a textbook, and therefore not something to be read for pleasure.

So, Ron couldn't help but come to the conclusion that it was only natural that Lucy be reading a book with the constellations as its subject matter. And clearly her cousins had come to that conclusion as well, because none of them commented on how obviously lucky they were that she just so happened to have such a book with her at that precise moment.

"Excellent," James stated. "What's the first one?"

"Andromeda," Lucy replied promptly.

"I can already tell this is going to be harder than we thought," Teddy said dryly. "Obviously that one's already taken, so I think it's out. What's next?"

"Anilia."

"That's pretty," Lily said, "I like that."

Lucy frowned slightly. "Yes…but it means 'air pump.'"

"We'll advise against it, then, if they think the same way Lily does," Fred put in swiftly.

"Alright then, next up is…Apus."

Hugo grimaced. "That just sounds so wrong. That can't be my future niece or nephew's name. Next."

"Aquarius," Lucy replied. "Not really much of a name for a person though, is it? After that is Aquila."

"Aquila…" Dominique tested it out. "It could be a possibility, I guess. What does it mean?"

"Eagle."

"I suppose it could work," Roxanne allowed. "After all, with parents like Rose and Scorpius, Ravenclaw is definitely a possibility. No Gryffindor for the newest Malfoy, I guess…"

Across the room, that made Ron shudder. At random moments it still surprised him that his daughter was now technically a Malfoy. And now he's just had the reminder that his first grandchild would be one as well—not that the whole conversation about his poor grandchild being named after some random stars wasn't reminder enough…And to add insult to injury, his nieces and nephews had a lot of nerve to suggest that _his_ grandchild wouldn't be a Gryffindor.

That was really the main problem here. He really was over the fact that Rose had married a Malfoy. But the Malfoy family's predisposition of being sorted into Slytherin house was definitely _not_ something that could simply be forgiven and forgotten.

"After that is Ara," Lucy continued. "It seems kind of…_blah_, if you ask me."

"Well, what's after that one, then?" Victoire demanded.

"Aries," Lucy promptly responded.

Albus scrunched his nose. "I don't really fancy any names that are zodiac signs."

"We'll have to attempt to tactfully dissuade them from using one of those, then," Louis stated.

"Auriga is next."

"Personally," Fred said resolutely, "I think that is a fine name. Absolutely superb. Not that any constellation name couldn't be wonderful. Honestly, there are just too many fantastic names for Rosie and Scorpius to choose from. They really are going to have a challenge picking one out."

Ron couldn't help but grimace at this, try as hard as he might to make it look as if he wasn't paying a shred of attention to his niece's and nephew's conversation.

"And after that we have Boötes, which is apparently a constellation of a…" Lucy checked her book, "Of a herdsman, in case anyone was wondering."

"Interesting…" Molly allowed. "I feel like this would be a good opportunity to move on, though."

"I concur," Dominique said immediately.

"Up next we have Caelum, which is a lovely constellation of a…chisel," Lucy frowned at the last bit. "I can't really imagine why anyone in their right mind would name their newborn after a chisel."

"You do realize that this is Rose and Scorpius we're talking about, _right_?" Albus asked. "No one _ever_ said they were in their right minds."

"Yes, yes, yes, as fun as it is to poke fun at the parents-to-be, we have more pressing matters to attend to," Hugo cut in, "If you'd be so kind as to carry on, Lucy."

"Very well," Lucy acquiesced. She scanned her list quickly before her eyes alighted on the next name, a broad grin spreading across her face. "Be prepared everyone; the next one's a real keeper. I can already tell you're all going to like it."

"Well?" Teddy demanded impatiently when Lucy didn't continue.

"Oh yes, sorry," Lucy said swiftly. "Camelopardalis."

Everyone was silent until, finally, Lily spoke up.

"Like it?" She demanded. "We _adore_ it."

"Rose and Scorpius are sure to pick that one," Fred agreed. "In fact, if they don't, I do believe I'll stage a formal protest."

"Camelopardalis Malfoy does have a certain ring to it," Louis allowed. "But we're only on C. We really can't rule out all of the other possibilities already."

Ron, more than slightly horrified, couldn't help but hope beyond all belief that Camelopardalis _would_ be ruled out as a possibility.

"Yeah, well, next is Cancer," James stated, looking over Lucy's shoulder. "Which is another zodiac, so we _are_ ruling that one out."

"Do you _mind_?" Lucy asked pointedly, pulling away from James. "What are you? Eight? Haven't you ever heard of the concept of personal space?"

"You know," Victoire began in a rather offhand manner, successfully diffusing the situation, "For our sake, I really do hope Rosie has a long labor. This is going to take us ages."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Well," Dominique said in a decisive tone, after her sister had spoken, "Why don't we keep going, then? Really, there's no need to draw this out as much as we already have."

Ron found that he couldn't help but agree with that statement. Granted, his nieces and nephews probably weren't aware that he had a minor heart attack every time that they mentioned a new constellation name, but it still wasn't necessary to go into this much detail when discussing possible names. After all, the baby wouldn't belong to any of _them_; the baby's name was for Rose and Scorpius to decide.

Unsurprisingly, however, after listening in on his nieces and nephews for the past several minutes, Ron couldn't help but have very little faith in the idea that his daughter and son-in-law would make a good decision about their child's name.

"Personally, I find it all fascinating," James said airily, before giving a snort of laughter. "Alright, no I don't. But this is really doing wonders to support the theory that Rosie is all sorts of insane."

"Not that I wouldn't love to have that particular conversation yet again," Teddy cut in swiftly, "But moving on—Lucy, what's next on your list?"

"Canes Venatici," Lucy replied almost immediately.

"Huh…" Hugo said succinctly. "Well, maybe Scorpius is Italian."

"Actually," Lucy began, "The origin is Latin. But continuing on, after that is Canis Major, followed by Canis Minor."

"You know, as promising as all three of those sound," Lily said, "I'm not sure I like that whole going by two names thing. I mean, I guess we'd all get used to it eventually, but it still seems like a bit of a mouthful to be calling a baby—or anyone, in general."

"Hmm…" Lucy said thoughtfully, "The next one is Capricornus, which is a zodiac. I just worry that we're ruling too many possible names out."

"You worry too much," Molly informed her younger sister. "Besides, I'm sure it's all pointless worrying. Scorpius and Rosie will want something original and unique for their baby's name. Not something completely normal like a zodiac or…" She reached across the open space separating her from her sister and grabbed Lucy's book out of her hands, "What's next?" She made a face as she said, "Carina. Well that's completely boring. Next is Cassiopeia, though. I feel like that one could have some serious potential."

"Except I've seen that one before," Al cut in. "It's on the Black Family Tree that's hanging in Grimmauld Place."

"You see?" Lucy questioned as she snatched her book back out of Molly's grasp. "It's all completely hopeless. Maybe we should just give up now. Scorpius and Rose will never be able to pick a constellation name for their baby with all of these obstacles in their way."

For perfectly logical reasons, Ron couldn't help but swell with gratitude at Lucy's words. Finally, one member of the second generation was demonstrating their worth. His renewed sense of trust in his daughter to not follow Black family tradition was dashed, however, as the cousins continued their conversation.

"Nonsense," James said simply. "We all know how good Rosie and Scorp are at overcoming obstacles. They're happily married, aren't they? After that, what greater challenge is there than to pick one name out of so many truly wonderful possibilities?"

Louis nodded his agreement. "What's next, Lucy?"

"Centaurus."

"Aunt Hermione is a wonderful advocate for equal rights," Dominique said. "I'm sure some of it has rubbed off on Rosie."

Ron had long ago come to accept that there was no getting around the fact that his wife had a weakness for helping the creatures and people their society had a tendency to look down upon. In fact, he was rather proud of the work she had down for not only the centaurs, but also house elves, goblins, and countless others. Except…well…if Rose ended up naming her child _Centaurus_ as some kind of tribute to her mother, Ron was quite sure he would never forgive his wife.

"And then there's Cepheus," Lucy continued. "Which means 'King,' so I'd imagine it would only be a name they consider if the baby is a boy. After that is Cetus."

Victoire was frowning. "That doesn't really sound like a very appealing name for a person…or a constellation."

"And the list of possibilities lessens even more…" Lucy muttered. Then, louder, "Up next is Chameleon."

"What a perfectly lovely name for a child," Roxanne declared, causing Ron to shudder.

"Are you alright, Ron?" Hermione asked, turning her attention away from the reports she had brought with her and had been reading through up until this point. "You keep shivering. Maybe you should run home to get a sweater if you're so cold. If you go now, I'm sure you'll be back in time before the baby is born."

"No, I'm fine," Ron said swiftly. "I'm just…er…not cold. No, not cold at all. I haven't been shivering."

"If you say so, dear," Hermione replied, sounding rather as if she doubted every word he spoke. But she nonetheless returned her attention back to her work. Ron, for his part, returned to eavesdropping on his nieces and nephews, having missed a few possible names thanks to his wife's interruption.

"This is completely ridiculous!" Lucy was declaring. "We're probably going to have to suggest against the next three as well. They're all two words: Coma Berenices, Corona Australis, and Corona Borealis."

"Maybe just 'Berenices' or 'Australis' or 'Borealis' then," Teddy suggested. "They could just cut out one of the words."

"There are a lot of possibilities," Molly comforted her sister. "We don't need to get hung up on names that aren't going to work out. So what's up next?"

"Corvus."

"You see?" Molly said. "That's a perfectly nice name to choose."

"But we're barely a third of the way through the list," Fred said swiftly, "So we should still keep going."

"Yes, well, the next two don't really seem like keepers either," Lucy stated. "We have Crater and Crux."

"They seem pretty unique to me," Hugo stated. "We really shouldn't rule them out."

Lucy shrugged, but continued reading off her list, "Cygnus comes next."

"I think that was on the family tree, too," Lily said thoughtfully. "And with so many options, I doubt Rosie and Scorp are going to want to repeat a name."

"After that is Delphinus, which is a constellation of a dolphin."

"That sounds wonderful," Roxanne said. "I think it would be a lovely choice of a name for the baby."

"And next is Dorado," Lucy continued.

"It sounds…foreign…" Al said slowly, then continued, "But I suppose that's good because then it's sure to be unique."

The cousins indicated their agreement with Albus while Lucy turned the page to continue reading off names from her book.

"Everyone," Lucy announced suddenly, her tone causing her cousins to immediately fall silent, "I think I've found it. It's just…the perfect name. They're sure to pick it. It's positively lovely. I really don't know why we didn't think of this one to start off with."

Ron stiffened in his seat. If he was sure of one thing, it was that he had no desire to hear what his niece considered to be the perfect name for his first grandchild. He had discovered today that he had absolutely no faith in his nieces' and nephews' taste in names.

"Well?" Louis demanded, impatient. "What is it?"

Lucy looked up from her book and grinned. "Draco."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Ron Weasley had long been heralded as a hero of the Second War. In that war he had faced trials and tribulations that many people now could barely fathom. He had faced the greatest hardships of his life when he was only a teenager.

Or so he thought.

Because what it all came down to was this: Ron Weasley had seen and experienced much in his life, but nothing could have ever prepared him for what his niece had just suggested.

Ron Weasley's grandchild would _not_ be named Draco Malfoy, Jr.

The illusion of perfection in the post-war wizarding world had finally disappeared.

Also, Ron thought it was entirely possible that he might currently be going into a state of shock. Clearly his nieces and nephews didn't care about his precarious mental state, however, because they continued on with their conversation. And, with each word, Ron's desperation about the entire situation seemed to grow.

"You are a genius, Lucy," Fred proclaimed, while Molly said, "You're just…_brilliant_."

"How could we not have thought of that before?" James demanded melodramatically.

"It really is the perfect name," Louis agreed.

"I can hardly even see the point of continuing," Lily declared. "I mean, I know we already decided that Rose and Scorpius will want something unique, but naming their baby Draco Malfoy, Jr. would be the most adorable thing in the world."

"And Scorpius is pretty close with his dad," Albus said thoughtfully, "So naming his firstborn son after him wouldn't be too much of a stretch."

"Well you do know Scorpius the best," Teddy said decisively, "So I guess that means I agree with the rest of you. Draco it is."

Forget going into shock; Ron Weasley wanted nothing more than to burst into tears at this point. There was clearly something wrong with his children's generation.

"I don't know…" Lucy said uneasily. And Ron instantly perked up at this. Was someone finally going to exhibit some common sense?

She continued, "There are still so many names left. For all we know, they picked one that's farther on in the list because they knew we would be side-tracked by the utter perfection of the name Draco. We should keep going. The next name is Equuleus."

Ron had never been more disappointed in someone in his entire life as he was in Lucy at this current moment. And while he was taking the time to think about it, who, in the name of sanity, had given her that blasted book? If he ever found out, Ron was quite sure he would have to abuse his power as an Auror and do something quite illegal to that person.

"Personally," Victoire said, "I'm glad we're continuing; think of the never ending tragedy our lives would have become if we hadn't heard that name."

"It _is_ a rather nice name," Roxanne agreed. "And what comes after it?"

"Eridanus," Lucy replied, "Which is Ancient Greek for 'river.'"

"Personally," Dominique said airily, mimicking her sister's earlier tone, "I prefer ponds to rivers."

Victoire responded by sticking her tongue out at the younger woman.

"Teddy, control your wife," Dominique commanded.

"Why don't you just continue, Lucy?" Teddy suggested. "We'll just ignore those two for now."

"The next one is Fornax," Lucy stated, "Or, in the original Latin, furnace."

"I'm so jealous of Rosie," Lily said with a shake of her head. "Since she married into the Black family she has so many wonderful options for baby names. People would just thing I'm crazy for naming my child after the Latin word for furnace, but she can get away with it."

Ron, for the record, begged to differ.

"Hmm…" Lucy said thoughtfully, studying her book, "Next is Gemini, a zodiac. So after that is…Grus."

"Another superb option," Hugo proclaimed. "Lily is right: Rose is lucky to have so many excellent names to choose from."

"The next one is kind of lame, though," Lucy said decisively. "Hercules. Rather plain, don't you think? It's nothing compared to the one after it: Horologium."

"I think any child would be lucky to have that for a name," James stated. "In fact, if Rosie and Scorpius don't name the baby that, I may steal it myself when Em and I finally get around to having kids."

At this, Ron couldn't help but contemplate that, for the first time, there was an upside to this conversation. If James stayed true to his word, then Harry could share in Ron's agony. Whoever said Ron Weasley didn't have a positive outlook on life?

"Yes, well, moving on," Lucy said swiftly as the cousins all gave James strange looks, "Next is Hydra, followed closely by Hydrus."

"Maybe she's having twins," Louis said helpfully. "Those would be good names to pick, then."

"And if not, after that is Indus," Lucy continued. "And then after that is Lacerta."

"That's fun," Molly said decisively. "Fun is good."

"Yes it is," Lucy agreed, "Especially because Leo and Leo Minor come after it."

"And that's boring," Molly stated.

"We're going to be pros at this whole baby-naming thing by the time we're through with all of this," Fred said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should start a business of it."

"A business of naming other people's children?" Roxanne questioned her brother dubiously. "_Really_?"

"Well I'm going to have to do something to occupy my time when I retire from Quidditch," Fred said defensively. "I mean, obviously dad wants the business to stay in the family, but do you honestly think he's going to trust _me_ with it? You're the favorite, anyway."

"You're just jealous," Roxanne retorted.

"Calm down, kids," Teddy said before Fred could say anything back. "Why don't you just keep going, Lu?"

"An excellent suggestion," Lucy stated. "Next we have Lepus."

"Hmm…it kind of reminds me of 'leper,'" Hugo said slowly, "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Conflicted, obviously," Lily informed him. "Carry on, Lucy."

"Thanks for the permission, Lily," Lucy said dryly, but she resumed reading off names all the same. "Next is Libra, a zodiac, so after that is Lupus, which is practically Lupin, so we'll just keep going…" she trailed off as she turned the page. "And then there's Lynx and Lyra."

"Two wonderful suggestions," Albus declared.

"Lyra _is_ very pretty," Victoire agreed.

"Next is Mensa," Lucy said. "Altogether a rather dull choice considering Microscopium comes after it."

"Beautiful!" James proclaimed. "That one's definitely a keeper."

"Perhaps for your second born?" Albus suggested sarcastically.

"Well, I could argue that if it's good enough for Rosie and Scorpius then its good enough for me," James began, "But of course I couldn't pick the names of both of our first two children; obviously Emma needs to have a say in the matter."

Ron had to fight the urge to interrupt at this point. He felt it was rather hypocritical of James to say that he couldn't pick the names of his own future children when he was currently in the middle of a discussion about the possible name of a child that wasn't even his.

"Oh, of course," Albus agreed, and James chose to again ignore his sarcastic tone in favor of returning his attention to Lucy.

"After that is Monoceros," She said, "Which is Latin for unicorn."

"I think that's a pretty fitting name," Hugo said, "Rose has always liked unicorns."

As his son spoke, Ron promptly decided that he had always hated unicorns. And no, it wasn't because the Latin version could possibly become his first grandchild's name. _Obviously_ Ron's deep hatred for unicorns went all the way back to his first year at Hogwarts, when there was that unfortunate business with Professor Quirrell killing them and drinking their blood. And yes, he _was_ conveniently forgetting the fact that he had not in fact been present for those events, as he had been cooped up in the hospital wing with an infected scratch from Norbert(a) at the time and hadn't been with Harry and Hermione to be given the detention that had brought Harry face-to-face (in a manner of speaking) with You-Know-Who for the first time since he was a baby.

"Then she'll probably choose that name over Musca," Lucy said decisively, bringing Ron's attention back to his nieces' and nephews' conversation, "Because that's Latin for 'a fly.'"

"I'm so glad we have you around, Lucy," Lily said, "Can you imagine what boring names we'd be thinking of right now without you and your book?"

"Well, seeing as it's Scorpius and Rose, I think we'd probably be thinking up names to go along with theirs," James said thoughtfully. "So it would have to be something dreadful like Petunia."

"I don't know how dreadful that is," Lucy said thoughtfully, "The next one is Norma. That's rather bland, don't you think?"

"I, for one, happen to think that _all_ constellation names are perfectly wonderful," Fred said airily. "Even if they are plain and old-fashioned like that."

Roxanne rolled her eyes at her brother, "Just keep going Lucy. At this rate, the baby will be born and have celebrated its fifth birthday by the time we get through all of these names."

"But what if we _like_ drawing this out as long as possible?" James questioned.

"Well, then you're crazy," Roxanne informed him.

James merely grinned broadly at her.

"We _have_ been at this for a while," Teddy conceded, glancing at his watch. "I, for one, could use a break. Anyone want to go to the tearoom with me for a bit?"

"I think I'll join you, Mr. Lupin," Victoire said. She held out her hand, and he pulled her to her feet. "And maybe I'll check in on Andromeda…John and Dora seemed particularly wild today when we dropped them off…"

"You know, a snack does sound good right about now," James admitted. "Plus, the hospital shop is on the same level as the tearoom. And, do you know, for all the times I've been here, I've never once visited the shop, and that's the best part of the whole place!"

"That's probably because you're usually unconscious or seriously injured in some other way whenever you come to the _hospital_," Lily informed her brother pointedly. Then, in a sweeter voice, "But if you promise to buy me something, then I'll come with you."

"I say we all just go," Fred said, standing up now as well. "And we can leave all of the grown-ups to their peaceful thoughts, without us to disturb them."

"Since when were you ever so thoughtful?" Molly questioned Fred as she followed him out of the waiting room.

"Since right now," Dominique said from behind her.

However, as thoughtful as Fred appeared to be acting, Ron's thoughts were far from peaceful as his various nieces and nephews trooped out of the room. He had a lot to think about, and most of it was not good.

For starters, he was still stuck on the fact that a majority of the cousins seemed to think that Rose and Scorpius would name their first child after Ron's mortal enemy. That was just unacceptable. No grandchild of Ron Weasley's would be named Draco Malfoy. Of that he was absolutely certain. He would most definitely not stand for any of that nonsense.

But if, by some miracle, Rose and Scorpius _didn't_ name their child Draco, there were still countless other awful names for them to choose.

Altogether this was just not turning out to be Ron's day. Not at all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Ron Weasley was in a bit of a dilemma.

You see, his only daughter had married the only son of his mortal enemy. And then they had decided that their greatest dream was to have a family of their own, so now Ron's first grandchild was going to be a Malfoy. But to make matters worse, the Malfoy's were also some of the last surviving members of the Black family. And the Black family liked to name their children after constellations. And, on top of all of that, some complete imbecile had given Ron's niece Lucy some ridiculous book about the constellations which she and her cousins were going through trying to determine what horrendous name they thought would be bestowed upon Ron's poor, innocent grandchild.

But that wasn't even the worst of it. No, the worst part was that his nieces and nephews had decided to take a group field trip to the tea shop more than half an hour previously so now he didn't even have his horror at each new name they read off to distract him from actually taking time to dwell on what his grandchild's name might turn out to be. Of course, that was if his grandchild ever decided to put an appearance in.

Ron was quite positive that the wait for each of his own children's births hadn't been nearly as stressful as this one was turning out to be.

"Ron, dear," Hermione's voice suddenly broke through Ron's thoughts, "Are you all right?"

He stared at her blankly. "What?"

She nodded at his lap, "What did that handkerchief ever do to you?"

Looking down, Ron saw that, in his anxiety, he had twisted his handkerchief into something that vaguely resembled a knotted rope.

"Everything is fine," Ron said swiftly, dropping the handkerchief as if it had burned him.

Hermione gave her husband a concerned look. "Are you sure?" She pressed. "Maybe you should get some air. I'm sure the kids are still upstairs. Maybe you could go join them."

While Ron had already established that not having to hear his nieces' and nephews' ridiculous name ideas was only slightly less stressful than actually having time to dwell on their conversation, he highly doubted that going to find them was the best solution. For all he knew they could be taking this opportunity—now that they were away from the prying ears of family—to discuss things that were even more awful than his grandchild's possible name. And no, he did not want to even think about what could possibly be worse than the conversation he had already had to endure, thank you very much. Being in the general vicinity of them was clearly a no-win situation.

He couldn't very well explain that to his wife, though. And speaking of his wife, she was still giving him a concerned look. Clearly he was expected to answer her.

"I think I'll stay here," Ron said quickly.

"Clearly you need something to do, though," Hermione stated. "Didn't you bring any paperwork with you? You _are_ always complaining that that's all you seem to do these days. Now would be an excellent time to get some of it done."

"Er…no…" Ron said slowly. "I…well, I was in a bit of a hurry to leave, after I got your owl. I…er…I must have forgotten to bring anything with to work on." When Hermione's expression twisted into an almost imperceptible frown he hastened to add, "But maybe once Harry gets here he'll have something for me to do."

"Hmm…perhaps," Came Hermione's response. Her gaze began to gravitate back towards her own paperwork at this point. "Personally, I don't know how you've been coping for the past two hours. I think I would be practically mad with nerves by this point if I was you. Of course…there _was_ your handkerchief…"

Ron was saved from having to respond, however, by the sudden (and rather raucous) re-entrance of his nieces and nephews into the waiting room.

"I hope neither of you wanted to get anything from the Tearoom or the Shop," Hugo informed his parents as he sat down, his cousins also resuming the seats they had previously been sitting in. "Because I do believe they'll both be closed for a while."

"At least until Rose and Scorpius bring the baby home," Lily chimed in. "Once the hospital staff knows they're potentially safe from our presence up there."

"What did you _do_?" Hermione asked slowly, now completely distracted from her work. The horror was clear in both her tone and expression.

"_I_ didn't do anything," Lily replied immediately. "No, it was all my dear older brother, James, plus Louis and Fred."

"Where _is_ James?" Ron questioned over Louis and Fred's protests, having noticed that the oldest Potter hadn't returned with the group.

"See, it's like this," Fred began, cutting off the rest of his cousins as they all hastened to answer their uncle's question, "We were on our way up to the fifth floor; Teddy decided to go stop by to visit some relatives and Vic had gone off to floo Mrs. Tonks, so it's quite possible that we had just a bit less supervision than we would have had otherwise—"

"Fred!" Roxanne cut her brother off. "You're twenty seven years old! You shouldn't _need_ supervision anymore!"

"That's not the point," Fred said with a wave of his hand, turning back to his aunt and uncle, "The point," He continued, "Is that we didn't have their guidance and none of us like listening to Lucy when she's being bossy. So, in a perfectly understandable turn of events, we got lost on our way to the fifth floor and ended up on the ground floor—"

"Which is where James discovered that Emma had gotten into a bit of an accident at practice—" Louis cut in, before being cut off himself by Molly.

"Which, really, when you think about it, might end up being a good thing, in the long run," Molly said decisively. "I mean, I love Emma, but if this injury takes her out of the Harpies' next match, then the Cannons might actually have a chance of beating them."

"The day the Chudley Cannons beat the Holyhead Harpies is the day hell freezes over," Dominique declared loudly. "Er, no offense, Uncle Ron. But seriously, when was the last time they had a good season, let alone won a game?"

"Next season," Roxanne said with a smirk.

"Oh, so you're a seer, now?" Molly asked. "Do tell us how in Merlin's name you think the Cannons are going to manage a good season next year."

"I've requested a trade," Roxanne said simply.

There was silence for a moment, everyone taking a moment to digest this information. The fact that James' wife was in the hospital with a Quidditch injury clearly long gone from their minds. The silence was broken, however, by a loud explosion of noise.

"You did what?" Fred demanded of his sister.

"That Magpies are actually _good_!" Louis chimed in. "Why would you _leave _them?"

"You're insane!" Molly declared.

"You're joking, aren't you, Roxie?" Lily asked. "I haven't heard about any trades, and I'm pretty sure I'd be the first to know about one."

"It's not official yet," Roxanne replied. "The management in Montrose thinks I'm insane to want to leave to go to the Cannons, of all teams, so they've okayed it because they don't think it's going to work out for me. But we haven't heard from the Cannons yet so we haven't made any kind of announcement to the Department of Magical Games and Sports or to the press; I'm pretty sure they're all in some state of shock over the fact that anyone would voluntarily want to be traded there."

"Why _would_ someone want to be traded there?" Albus asked. "The Chudley Cannons haven't won the league in more than a hundred years."

"Forget everything I ever said about dad leaving you the business after he retires," Fred informed his sister. "Clearly I _am_ the one with the brains out of the two of us."

"Clearly I'm just the one who likes a challenge," Roxanne told Fred. "The Cannons losing streak ends next season. But I'm sure that there are other things Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron would like to talk about?"

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione beat him to it.

"While I'm sure Ron would love to go on and on about how you're now his favorite niece," Hermione said, patting Ron's knee affectionately, "You still haven't explained what, exactly, happened to James."

"It was after we ran into Emma and her teammates," Lucy spoke up, "Naturally, James thought that his wife needed cheering up in the form of material goods—which is when this lot finally took my advice and we unfortunately found our way to the fifth floor." She took a brief pause before continuing, "Do you really want to hear the rest?"

"I think we'll just leave it to our imagination," Hermione said swiftly. "And I'm sure when Ginny eventually finds out what her son did we'll hear quite a bit about it."

"What has my son done this time?" A voice spoke up from the door.

As one, the group turned to see that Harry and Ginny had both finally arrived; Teddy was standing slightly behind them, still in the doorway.

"It was all James, mum, I swear," Albus said quickly.

"Isn't it always?" Harry asked, looking slightly weary. "I think we should just stop asking questions, Gin. Maybe then we'll finally be able to pretend like we have a normal family."

"Normal is incredibly over-rated, Uncle Harry," Louis said immediately.

"And since the topic is bound to come up eventually," Fred chimed in, "So is being mature."

"Basically," Lucy spoke up once more, addressing her aunts and uncles, "After James, Fred, and Louis managed to get all of us banned from the entire fifth floor of this hospital for life, James went to go check on Emma again. He said he'd come meet us back up here when she gets released."

"Or when she kicks him out of her ward once she finds out what he did," Albus muttered.

"Emma really is a lovely girl," Ginny commented absentmindedly, taking the empty seat next to Hermione, whom she immediately engaged in conversation. "Mum said she and dad will be here soon…"

It was at this point that Ron chose to tune out his wife and his sister's conversation. Instead, he turned to Harry, who had pulled out a large pile of paperwork almost immediately upon sitting down, and was about to ask if he could help with any of it when his nieces and nephews decided to resume their earlier conversation.

"We should get back to those constellations, shouldn't we?" Dominique asked. "We don't want the baby to be born before we can get through all of the name possibilities."

"That would be a great tragedy," her brother agreed. "Lucy, if you would be so kind as to continue?"

Ron turned away from Harry and sank back into his chair once more in defeat. There was no use even pretending like he was going to get anything worthwhile accomplished now…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"So, Luce," Hugo began conversationally, leaning back in his chair, "How many names do we have left? I feel like we've been at this forever; there can't be that many more…"

Ron, too, felt as if his torture had been going on for quite a while now. He really just wanted it all to end. When, in Merlin's name, was that baby going to be born?

"Actually," Lucy flipped through the remaining pages in her book, "We've only gotten through about two thirds of the constellations; you people keep interrupting me. There are plenty of names options left."

"Well, then, we apologize," Teddy said immediately. "What's up next?"

"Octans," Lucy read off. "Which means 'octant,' which is the eighth part of a circle."

"Which makes it an excellent name choice for their eighth child," Fred said reasonably. "Really, I don't know why we're being so picky about what name Rosie and Scorpius choose for their first kid. I'm sure they'll have plenty more to name after constellations."

If there was one thing Ron really hated more than Black family traditions at that moment, it was the fact the he wanted lots of grandchildren to spoil.

"A lot of kids would be useful," Lucy commented. "The next one is Ophiuchus, which means 'serpent bearer.' And I trust I don't have to explain to you lot why that name fits perfectly for Rose and Scorpius' child."

"Any reminder of how wonderful we Slytherins are really shouldn't be passed over," Albus said cheekily. If Ron hadn't been so mortified at the prospect of his grandchild having such a non-Gryffindor-like name, he might have ignored his Auror's oath of justice and hexed his nephew for suggesting such a preposterous thing (Ron may also have chosen to ignore the fact that his boss/the father of previously mentioned nephew was seated directly beside him). Fortunately, however, Ron's mortification at Albus' suggestion was great and he was thus unable to cause his nephew any bodily harm (or potentially lose his job).

It was also rather helpful that a vast majority of Ron's nieces and nephews were also Gryffindors, hence they were rather anti-Slytherin on basic principle.

"That is quite possibly the most preposterous thing I have ever heard in my entire life," Molly declared loudly.

"You're lucky you've never had to live with him, then," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "Going on about the superiority of Slytherin over every other house was always one of Al's favorite pastimes."

"And he's still alive?" Molly asked, equal parts impressed and disgusted. "I guess he really _must_ be your parents' favorite. It's taken a few years, but I finally believe you, Lils."

"'Bout time," Lily grumbled, but was cut off from continuing by Lucy.

"Yes, well this is all entirely lovely, but moving on…" She said hurriedly, "The next name is Orion. I don't know why, but that sounds vaguely familiar to me. What about the rest of you?"

The assembled cousins just looked at her cluelessly. But before anyone could say anything, a voice spoke up from the doorway.

"That was almost my middle name!"

As one, all of the occupants of the waiting room turned to see that James had finally returned from his mission to brighten up his wife's trip to the hospital. None of the cousins could react to James' statement, however, because it Ginny who spoke first.

"James Sirius Potter!" Ginny all but shrieked, getting to her feet.

Both James and Ron winced noticeably at her outburst. Not for the first time that day, Hermione looked at her husband with concern written across her features.

"Ron?" She questioned. "What's wrong?"

"She sounds just like mum," Ron said with a small shudder. Hermione merely rolled her eyes at her husband as her attention was drawn back to the conversation going on between her sister-in-law and nephew.

"Hullo mum," James said pleasantly, crossing his arms across his chest to hide the fact that his hands had begun to shake at the sound of his mother's furious voice. "Lovely weather we're having, don't you think?"

"What have you _done_?" Ginny demanded, outraged. "Hermione just told me what happened upstairs! How could you possibly do that? I thought you were going to start acting like a responsible adult! Don't make me talk to Emma about your behavior."

"Mum!" James protested. "C'mon, it wasn't that bad."

At this point, Ginny, too, crossed her arms over her chest as a severe frown settled on her face. She tapped her foot impatiently as, behind her, Harry began humming slightly to himself as he continued on with his paperwork; he hadn't so much as looked up when Ginny had shouted their oldest son's name.

"It wasn't that bad?" Ginny repeated incredulously. "You _destroyed_ the tea shop!"

"'Destroyed' is such a strong word, mum," James insisted. "I'd prefer to think of it as redecorating. Vic _is_ always saying that the place creeps her out whenever she goes up there during her breaks. It was much too bright and cheerful, but it's better now."

In the blink of an eye, Ginny's expression suddenly changed, a grin spreading quickly across her features.

"You know what, James?" Ginny asked, her unexpectedly sweet voice catching everyone off-guard—even Harry finally looked up from his paperwork at the sound of it. "Let's just forget about this whole thing," She continued, resuming her seat next to Hermione, "You just go spend some more time with your cousins."

And with that last word she turned back to her sister-in-law—thoroughly ignoring everyone's confused looks—and launched into a story about how Astoria Malfoy had been contemplating hexing the Editor-in-Chief of the _Prophet_ for not letting her leave to go to the hospital with Ginny. James, meanwhile, just stared at his mother incredulously for a moment before slowly walking over to where his cousins were seated on the other side of the room and resuming his previous seat.

"That woman is bloody mental," James muttered under his breath.

"You've known her longer than me and you're only just figuring that out?" Albus questioned his older brother.

"Anyway," Lucy said, a tad louder than was absolutely necessary but succeeding in getting everyone's attention, "Getting back on track…the next name up is Pavo."

"Hmm…it sounds Italian…kind of…" Dominique commented in an offhand manner. "What does it mean?"

"Peacock," Lucy replied.

"That's fitting," Albus stated decisively. "The Malfoy have those pet peacocks at their manor. Rosie and Scorp's kid will fit right in."

Ron was quite positive that he would most definitely put his foot down if his daughter chose to name his first grandchild anything that would associate it with Lucius Malfoy's albino decorations.

"It's probably better than Pegasus," Lucy stated, consulting her book once more.

"I don't know about that," Hugo cut in. "Rose did always have a thing for that one Disney movie. She might be open to naming her kid after one of the characters from _Hercules_."

"You really think your sister is going to be open to naming her firstborn child after an animated horse from some movie based on an ancient muggle myth?" Roxanne questioned. "You're crazier than I always thought you were."

"Not to mention if she likes that movie so much, then she would probably rather name the baby after the title character," Molly added in.

Personally, Ron didn't see any problem with the name his nieces and nephews proposed, for once. Obviously it would be all kinds of wonderful if the next Malfoy heir was named after something so incredibly muggle in origin. Yes, he was quite sure that he wouldn't have any problem doting on a grandchild named Pegasus. Of course, that could have just been his nerves talking…

"Yes, well, we've already agreed that Hercules is a rather plain name compared to some of the other options," Lucy hurried to say before Hugo could reply. "Take Perseus, for example. That sounds like a perfectly lovely name."

"Isn't that the name of some Greek god or something?" Fred questioned thoughtfully. "Hey! Maybe they could name the baby Perseus Pegasus! Or maybe Pegasus Perseus sounds better…either way, it's got that Greek theme going on…"

As one, his cousins all turned to look at him. Fred merely shrugged cluelessly at them.

"Perseus was a Greek hero, actually," Teddy finally spoke up. "But either way, it sounds rather like Uncle Percy's name, don't you think?"

"Hmm…you're right," Dominique hastened to agree. "And I can't really imagine Rosie naming her baby after Uncle Percy; they aren't _that_ close."

Fred sighed in defeat. "I suppose…"

"Phoenix comes next," Lucy announced, still shaking her head slightly at her younger cousin, unable to fathom how he ever came up with half the things that came out of his mouth.

"That would actually be a really cool name," Louis admitted. "Just imagine it…Phoenix Malfoy."

"It's quite the Gryffindor name," Lily agreed. "I like it. Too bad for you, Al."

Albus simply rolled his eyes at his sister, while Lucy resumed reading off names.

"After that we have Pictor," She said.

"Sounds a bit formal, if you ask me," James commented. "We need something more exciting than that. Something with _character_. What comes next?"

"Pisces," Lucy stated with a small frown.

"Or not…" James trailed off. "Zodiac names are far too common."

"How many people do you honestly know who are named after a zodiac?" Albus questioned his brother.

James opened his mouth but paused, racking his brain for anyone he had ever met with a name like that. After a moment, he closed his mouth again with a sigh of defeat.

"Exactly," Albus stated. "Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to rule them out."

"There was a kid in my year named Leo," Teddy suddenly said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"But Leo is _boring_," Molly stated, reiterating her statement from more than an hour previously. "Even if it is an incredibly Gryffindor-esque name."

"Just keep going, Lu," Teddy said with a shake of his head.

"Well, this one would certainly be unique," Lucy commented thoughtfully, "Piscis-Austrinus."

"Hyphenated first names are weird," Fred stated firmly.

"_You're_ weird," His younger sister informed him. "Honestly…Perseus Pegasus…"

"And still moving on," Lucy hastened to continue, "Next up is Puppis."

"Eh…" Dominique said with a shrug, "It'll do, but I'm sure Rosie and Scorpius could do better."

Or much, much worse, in Ron's opinion.

"Very true," Lucy agreed. "Because after that is Pyxis, which doesn't sound too bad, but the next one is Reticulum."

"No," James said immediately. "Just no. I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face long enough to corrupt a kid into being a Gryffindor if it's name was Reticulum."

"Yes, and Merlin forbid the next Malfoy not be a Gryffindor," Albus said sarcastically.

"Exactly, Al," James said with a grin, choosing to complete ignore all of the irony in his brother's tone. "I'm so glad you're finally starting to see the light."

"And mum's the one who's mental…" Albus muttered to himself.

"Hey, you're the one who said you noticed it first," James reminded his brother.

"Just ignore them," Teddy advised when Lucy opened her mouth to tell the pair off, "They're just being their usual Potter selves.

"I resent that," Lily informed her surrogate older brother. "And I do hope you realize that you also just insulted yourself, seeing as you've always been just as good as a Potter."

"Now kids," Louis admonished them lightly, "Let's all play nicely. I don't think I really need to remind you that thanks to James, here, we've got nowhere else to go in this hospital to escape from each other. Why don't we just keep going with the names. If you don't mind, Lucy?"

"Sagitta," Lucy replied promptly. "Latin for 'arrow.' Followed by Sagittarius, which is Latin for 'archer.'"

"Another excellent pair of names in the event Rosie has twins," Dominique said decisively. "Even if the second one is technically a zodiac."

"And since we're not getting back to that debate again," Lucy said quickly, "The next one is…oh," Her tone was pleasantly surprised as she continued, "The next one is Scorpius."

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, Jr.," Molly tested out, "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"And the baby really would be a junior this time," Lucy agreed with her sister, "Unlike if he was named Draco."

"Yes…" Hugo said slowly, "But the Malfoys don't really seem like the kind of family to have 'juniors' either way, do they?"

"All the same, we can't very well rule it out based on what history tells us," Albus stated. "Scorp isn't anything like his ancestors—that's not to say that he'd break the tradition of naming his children after constellations, of course. Obviously he'll still do _that_."

Yes, well, Ron could dream, couldn't he?

"And Rosie _has_ stopped getting mad at us for referring to the baby as Scorpius, Jr.," Roxanne pointed out. "Maybe she's warmed up to the idea."

In his desperation, Ron couldn't help but consider that he wouldn't really mind if his grandchild _was_ named Scorpius. Anything to avoid the poor child being named Draco.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"We're nearly out of constellations," Lucy announced, interrupting her cousins as they further debated the pros and cons (and they were mostly pros, much to Ron's chagrin) of the baby being named Scorpius Jr. "And, in my opinion, there's quite a bit of potential in some of these last few."

"Well, by all means, do share," Fred stated, waving his hand to indicate that she should continue.

"After Scorpius is Sculpior," said Lucy.

"In the off chance that the baby decides to completely rebel against Rose and Scorpius, and decides to become evil," Molly said thoughtfully, "I think Sculpior would be a good villain name."

"Molding children into evil villains is my specialty," James offered, "Right after brainwashing them into believing that Gryffindor is the greatest house ever…Which, I mean, isn't that much of a stretch, as I'm sure you all know."

"Don't speak, Al," Teddy advised when Albus opened his mouth to retort. "Please continue, Lu."

Lucy grimaced as she spoke, "Scutum."

"I don't know what that face was for," Dominique said airily, "Personally, I think that sounds like a fine name for the next Malfoy heir."

Ron wasn't quite sure whose side he was on for that one. On the one hand, it was a truly appalling name possibility for his grandchild. However, that child would always (unfortunately) be associated with the Malfoy family first and foremost, due to his dear Rosie's unfortunate choice of a husband—and yes, Ron had to rationalize to himself at this, he really _was_ quite over the fact that Rose had married Scorpius. He was actually pretty much alright, in Ron's opinion, but his father was still Draco Malfoy. And no matter how much his former year mate had changed, Ron was determined to never let petty school rivalries die.

So perhaps a child named 'Scutum' would be a lovely addition to the Malfoy line. Merlin only knew that his nieces and nephews had come up with plenty of other options that were far worse already.

"And next is Serpens," Lucy was continuing again.

"A perfectly brilliant name for a future Slytherin!" Albus declared.

"You hold, I hit?" James looked questioningly at Fred, who nodded eagerly.

"I'll tell mum!" Albus threatened immediately, causing James, who hadn't so much as moved a muscle in his younger brother's direction, to roll his eyes.

"Good Merlin, we aren't children anymore, Al," James stated. "It's just the basic principal of things, you know? Especially because…well, clearly it could be a good name for Rosie's kid."

It was official, Ron thought. Everyone had finally lost their minds. James thought it was perfectly alright for his cousin to give her child such an awfully-Slytherin name. And he, himself, was starting to warm up to the idea, as long as it would make Draco Malfoy look bad. What was this world coming to? This whole being in labor process was just taking far too long for Ron's liking…

"Truer words were never spoken," Hugo intoned.

"Well I'm glad you all can agree on that one," Lucy began, "Because the next name is Sextans."

"That poor child will be teased mercilessly," Teddy stated.

"Eh…he'll deserve it if he's in Slytherin," Louis said with a shrug.

"And if _he_ is actually a _she_?" Dominique challenged her brother. "And not in Slytherin?"

"Then Uncle George will take care of things," Louis replied, as if this was obvious.

"You make my dad sound like a mob boss or something," Fred commented. Then he shrugged as well, "He could probably pull it off; and he'd be a good one, too. After all, there's no need to kill the underlings when you can prank them."

"I am afraid for your future children," Roxanne informed her brother. "Deeply afraid."

"I'd be more concerned for Rose's children, if I was you," Lucy commented, her gaze on the book before her. "Because the next name is Taurus, which isn't altogether that bad, I guess, but it's a Zodiac and since I'd like to avoid having that little debate again, we'll just move right along to the next name after that, which is Telescopium. Could you just imagine what a child would have to go through with a name like _that_?"

"And breathe," Albus advised his cousin, who had said all of that without pausing for a single breath. "Besides, that's a name with character. And I'm pretty sure I'd know; I'm the one whose parents thought it would be a brilliant idea to name their child Albus Severus."

"I think the name after that is even better, though," Molly announced, causing Lucy to realize that her sister had managed to snatch the book out of her hands whilst she was otherwise occupied with glaring at Al. "Triangulum."

"Yes, it's perfectly lovely," Lucy said sarcastically, grabbing her book back. "Especially considering that the constellation after it is Triangulum-Australe."

"_Hello_?" Lily said pointedly. "Twin names!"

"How many sets of twins are they going to have?" Teddy demanded, and Ron easily found himself in agreement with the younger man.

"I think they should just have eighty-eight children, in general," Dominique said decisively. "That way they won't need to think too much about what to name each of their children. There will be one constellation for each of them."

_Maybe this was all just a bad dream?_ Ron couldn't help but muse to himself. What other explanation could there be for having to endure all of this insanity from his nieces and nephews? After all, although they had jokingly referred to the unborn baby as Scorpius, Jr. on occasion, none of them had appeared to show very much interest in what the baby would actually be called until today, when they were all stuck in this waiting room together. He couldn't help but get suspicious. And clearly this had to be a dream, because they were almost done going through all of the names and he had only just started to think there was something fishy going on with all of it. Sweet Merlin, Ron really hoped he was going to wake up soon.

"That probably _would_ solve a few problems," Lucy admitted. "Because the next name is Tucana, which means Toucan."

"And who _doesn't_ want a child who is named after a tropical bird?" James jumped in.

"I'd be willing to bet that your wife doesn't," Lily informed her older brother.

"Minor details," James said with a wave of his hand. "We aren't talking about me and Emma, here. This is all about Rose and Scorpius and the delightful name they're going to give to their little bundle of joy."

"If it ever decides to put in an appearance, you mean," Roxanne muttered.

"Speaking of putting in an appearance," Teddy said thoughtfully, looking at the group as a whole suddenly. "Where's Vic? She never came back from flooing my Grandmother to check up on Dora and John."

"I'm sure she's fine," Dominique reassured her brother-in-law. "She's probably just telling Andromeda for the thousandth time how, exactly, the triangles need to be when she cuts up John's sandwich, as opposed to the squares Dora gets."

"She always was a bit insane like that," Louis agreed with his sister easily. "Don't worry, Teddy, she'll show up again eventually. And even if she doesn't, you know what would take your mind off of things? If Lucy kept reading off names. We really must be practically done by now."

"Nearly there," Lucy commented, scanning the page she was currently on before flipping to the next one and reading from the top, "Ursa Major," Then a frown, "Followed immediately by Ursa Minor."

"Hmm…maybe you're right, Teddy," Lily muttered, "That _would_ be quite a few sets of twins."

"You know, Teddy," Lucy spoke before Teddy could even attempt to reply to Lily's comment, "I think this next name would be pretty well-suited for you and Victoire if you ever get around to having another kid. After all, you _are_ technically a Black, too."

"What's the name?" Teddy asked warily. Ron's suspicions would have been even further raised at Teddy's tone—so only _his_ grandchild had to suffer through life with a horrid constellation name?—if it wasn't for the feeling of relief he had that his future grandchild would at least be spared from this one name…maybe.

"Vela," Lucy replied promptly. "I realize it's a bit obvious, but your kids _are_ only one sixteenth Veela, after all."

"I'll run it past Vic the next time the situation arises," Teddy said after a _very_ brief moment of thought.

Louis, actively choosing to ignore Teddy's patronizing tone, was all set to inform his brother-in-law that he was completely whipped, when a voice spoke up from behind him.

"James Sirius Potter, I am going to _kill_ you."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"Oh look, Teddy, I found your wife," Albus said cheerfully, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, quite enjoying the look of fear and panic spreading across his older brother's face as he took in Victoire's murderous expression.

"Hey, Vic," James said uneasily. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Victoire repeated with deadly calm. "Did you honestly just ask me 'what's up'?"

"Er…yes?" James offered

"You _destroyed_ the top floor of my _job_ and you want to know what's up?" By this point, no one could miss the unmistakable anger rolling off of Victoire in waves. Indeed, if she got any angrier, it was entirely possible that she might start throwing fireballs, never mind the fact that she wasn't even a full Veela.

James did not reply immediately. Rather, he was distracted momentarily as he caught sight of his mum waving to him cheerfully from the other side of the room. So this was why she had appeared to have a change of heart when yelling at him earlier. She had anticipated Victoire's reaction…No matter though. He would always be a Gryffindor, and Gryffindor's never backed down. Unless Victoire really _was_ capable of throwing fire.

"Like I told mum earlier," James said, "I feel like 'destroyed' is far too strong of a word to use here. I was simply enabling them to redecorate."

If anyone had asked any of the cousins their opinion at that moment, they would have gladly shared their analysis that James' tone was entirely too offhand. He was only making Victoire angrier.

"I work here, James!" Victoire exploded. "You might think _you'll_ be fine because _you_ don't have to come back here tomorrow, but _I_ do!"

By this time, Victoire had made her way across the room and was standing right in front of where James was seated. Luckily for James, this also put her within range of Teddy, who took swift advantage of their close proximity to grab his wife's hand, just as it was inching towards where she kept her wand.

"Vic, love," Teddy began, tugging on her hand so that she turned to face him, her expression softening just the slightest bit as their gazes locked, "It _was_ kind of an accident."

"But he destroyed one-fifth of my job," Victoire protested.

"And Rose will probably be upset if you were sent to Azkaban the day her baby was born for killing your cousin," Teddy continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"I guess today _is_ supposed to be about Rose," Victoire said with a sigh.

"Plus," Teddy continued again, "That's not even taking into consideration that I'd have to explain to Dora and John why their mum isn't going to be coming home anytime soon."

"And can you imagine how the pair of them would turn out with just you raising them?" Victoire agreed.

"Exac—_hey_!" Teddy cut himself off as he realized what his wife had just said.

"Can I at least kill him some other time, when there aren't any witnesses?" Victoire pressed at his distraction.

"Yes, dear," Teddy said with a defeated sigh, knowing a losing battle when he saw one.

"You tell her, Teddy," Louis said, smirking.

Victoire glared at her brother as she took the empty seat beside her husband, before turning her gaze back to James, who flinched visibly.

"Watch your back, Potter," She told him curtly, then turned to Lucy with a smile and said cheerfully, "So, how much have I missed?"

"Well," Molly began, cutting her sister off, "Most recently, Lucy, here, was trying to convince Teddy to name your next child Vela."

"And we've all decided that Scorpius and Rosie should have eighty-eight kids—maybe eighty-seven, depending on the name of your next kid," Fred stated.

"Oh, and that Gryffindor-ish names are preferable to any with Slytherin connotations," Roxanne joined in before Victoire could react, "Which is kind of a given, anyway, so you might have known that already."

And that if this baby didn't put in an appearance sometime in the immediate future, Ron might have to resort to something drastic; these bloody constellation names were driving him absolutely mental. It was quite possible that his nieces and nephews were unaware of this, however, as none of them chose to mention it.

"We only have three names left, actually," Lucy said quickly before anyone else could chime in with what she was sure would be another positively _delightful_ tidbit of wisdom. "So why don't we just keep going with that? The next name is Virgo."

"It _would_ be a zodiac," Hugo said exasperatedly.

"You also missed that," Lily informed Victoire. "We've been having a bit of a disagreement about whether zodiac names really should be included, but Lucy keeps continuing reading off names before we can have an epic battle over if they should."

"And after Virgo comes Volans," Lucy said right on cue before anything more could be said on the subject of zodiacs.

"Exhibit A," Louis said with a flourish of his hand towards Lucy.

"What does that one mean, Lu?" Albus asked, while Victoire merely shook her head at her cousins' and siblings' antics.

"Flying fish," Lucy answered promptly.

"Hmm…that's not a very good name for Hogwarts, is it?" Dominique asked thoughtfully. "Even if fish could fly, they'd still be an easy meal for any of the mascots of any of the four houses."

"Maybe if Rosie and Scorp sent the kid to Durmstrang?" James offered, contributing to the conversation for the first time since Victoire had returned. "They probably like to fish there…"

Ron was quite sure that he might have to join Victoire in causing James bodily harm after the young man had the nerve to suggest that any grandchild of _his_ would attend the same school that Viktor bloody Krum had once gone to.

"Yes, and after they catch the fish," Lily stated, "They _eat_ them."

"Alright, so maybe not…" James agreed.

"Personally," Dominique said, "I think you're all kind of missing the point on this one. The name just _means_ flying fish. Naming the kid 'Volans' won't make it actually turn into a fish."

"Maybe it means the kid will be good at flying," Molly chimed in. "We can always use more Quidditch players in this family."

"All the same," Teddy said, "It's best to just keep going, don't you think? After all, this is the last one, isn't it, Lucy?"

"A sad, sad occasion," James intoned, wiping a fake tear from his cheek as Lucy nodded affirmatively. "What I wouldn't give for eighty-eight _hundred_ constellations."

"Eighty-eight _thousand_," Fred challenged.

"Eighty-eight _million_," Louis joined in.

"No need to go overboard, mate," Fred told him. Ron couldn't help but agree with that statement; although, personally, at this point he would prefer if there weren't _any_ constellations to begin with. But then again, once Lucy got the last name out of the way, hopefully his agony would come to a swift end. Unless his Rosie _did_ decide to give his poor grandchild a horrid constellation name…

"Lucy?" Victoire prompted her younger cousin.

"Vulpecula," Lucy replied, "And before anyone asks, it means 'fox.'"

"Huh, those people who named the constellations really did save the best name for last," Fred said thoughtfully. "They did name them in alphabetical order, right?"

His cousins and sister chose not to dignify that question with a response.

"I think it's a positively lovely name," Molly said enthusiastically.

"They're sure to pick it," Dominique agreed easily. "It's perfect."

"And foxes are related to lions," Roxanne chimed in, "So it's a lovely Gryffindor name."

"You know, after all of the names we discussed today," Albus said thoughtfully, "I guess I can finally appreciate how hard it is to pick out a name for a baby."

"And as we can see with you," Lily informed her brother, "After all of the effort parents put into picking a name, they can _still_ mess up horribly."

"My name has _character_," Albus informed his younger sister, repeating the exact same thing their father had often said while they were growing up.

"Your name has letters in it that should never have been arranged the way they are!" Lily shot back.

"Well…" Albus trailed off, at a loss as to how to further continue the argument he and his siblings had been having for years. "Didn't I already admit that I have the most awful name in the history of names?"

All of the assembled cousins easily agreed with that, but if anything his nieces and nephews had been discussing for the past few hours was anything to go by, Ron was willing to bet Albus Severus Potter wouldn't be holding that title for much longer.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"So…" James said slowly after a sudden, yet brief, moment of silence had settled over them. "What do we do now that we're done going through names?"

"Be normal people," Lucy suggested under her breath.

"That's hardly agreeable," Molly informed her sister. "Anyone else have any more reasonable suggestions?"

As it turned out, however, the Weasley and Potter cousins truly had impeccable timing when it came to being bored. Because, at that precise moment, the door to the waiting room opened once more and a distraction in the form of Astoria Malfoy entered.

"You made it, Astoria," Ginny was the first to speak, as everyone had looked to the door when it opened, hoping it would be a Healer coming to announce that the baby had finally been born.

"Finally," Astoria stated, walking the short distance to the empty chair beside Ginny and Hermione and practically collapsing into it. "That bloody Editor needs to retire already. I'm a senior editor, not some intern who doesn't know one side of a quill from the other! And to think, I could have missed the birth of my first grandchild because he absolutely _needed_ to see a copy of the _Prophet_ from this day fifty years ago!"

"Cuffe lost his marbles ages ago," Ginny agreed easily. "And he probably should have retired even before that."

"Enough talk about work, though," Astoria insisted, "I've escaped the office for now. Tell me what's been going on here. What have I missed? Or, better yet," She continued without pause, taking in the room's occupants as she spoke, "Where is my husband? Don't tell me I actually beat him here when he's the one who works here."

"He might be dealing with the situation upstairs," Hermione offered.

"The situation?" Astoria repeated and, at her words, Victoire shot James another glare, causing him to cower slightly in his seat.

"Apparently," Ginny narrowed her eyes pointedly at James as well, "My oldest son felt the need to destroy the top floor of this hospital."

"I…see," Astoria said slowly.

"But other than that things have been pretty slow; nothing much has happened around here," Ginny continued, suddenly cheerful once more. "And I'm sure Draco will make it in time before the baby is born."

Ron couldn't help but disagree with his sister's assessment of the situation. Clearly she hadn't been privy to the same conversation between their nieces and nephews as he had. Unless she had been listening and was, for whatever reason, in agreement with them that Rose and Scorpius would decide to name their baby after a constellation. Either way, 'slow' was definitely not how Ron would describe his afternoon. 'Agonizing' was pretty spot on, though, as were 'disturbing' and 'mortifying.'

"You know," Hugo began thoughtfully, distracting Ron and drawing his attention back to his nieces and nephews. "I never realized before how incredibly boring it is to wait for a baby to be born."

Unfortunately for Hugo, he had chosen the precise moment when everyone else in the waiting room had fallen silent. So naturally, this was an announcement he made to the entire room, rather than just his cousins, as he had intended.

"I'm sure your sister would love to know that you feel this way," Hermione informed her son from across the room, where she was seated next to Ron.

"I thought you were excited about being an uncle, Hugo," Ginny chastised her youngest nephew.

"There's no need to gang up on me," Hugo said immediately, holding his hands up in surrender. "But we really have been here for ages. What's taking so long?"

"Life takes a long time, Hugo," Hermione said shortly. She smiled pleasantly at her son, then, though there was a bit of a glint in her eyes as she spoke, "Unless you'd like me to go into more detail about what, exactly, your dear sister is going through right now?"

"_Mum_! My ears!" Hugo protested, quickly pressing his hands to each side of his head.

"In all fairness, you did ask," Lily informed him. "Clearly you have no one to blame but yourself."

"And Scorpius," James threw in helpfully, "It's Scorpius' fault, too."

"While I'm sure Rosie agrees with you wholeheartedly at the moment," Albus said with a slight grimace, "We really don't need to talk about my two best friends like that, especially when their mothers are both sitting right there."

Ginny smiled pleasantly at him at this, "I always knew at least one of my sons was bound to possess some common sense."

James was about to protest that statement when he was cut off by the waiting room door opening once more and someone entering.

"Excuse me?" A young man in Healer robes spoke up, causing everyone to fall silent, "The family of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy?"

"That's us," Hermione said immediately and Ron couldn't help but grimace slightly; he would never be able to get over the fact that he really was related to the Malfoy family. Ever.

"Mrs. Malfoy has had her baby," The Healer stated, focusing his attention on Hermione now, "I can show you to her room."

"That would be lovely," Hermione replied, immediately stowing her paperwork in her bag and standing up. She was followed shortly by every other occupant of the waiting room.

"Only family can see her right now," The Healer said immediately.

"But we _are_ family," Fred told him with a grin.

"A-All of you?" The Healer demanded, his eyes widening in alarm.

"Of course," Louis replied this time.

"That's enough, you lot," Ginny informed the pair. She turned to Hermione, "You, Ron, Astoria, and Hugo should go. We'll be fine waiting a bit longer."

And without another word, she immediately resumed her seat, pulling Harry back down beside her. Hermione and Astoria immediately followed the Healer as he exited the room, Ron nervously trudging after them, with Hugo trailing behind. After rounding a few corners, they finally came to a halt at a closed door, which Draco Malfoy was standing outside of.

"There you are," Astoria declared, pecking her husband lightly on the cheek as the Healer walked away. "I was worried when you didn't show up."

Draco merely rolled his eyes. "I had to deal with some things upstairs; disaster is always bound to strike when there are Weasleys around."

"Don't forget your grandchild is technically a Weasley, too," Hermione informed him with a slight smirk.

"I try not to remind myself of the greatest tragedy of my life very often," Draco replied, though there was smile playing at the corners of his mouth as well. "But speaking of our grandchild, I do believe it's about time we were all introduced."

This was it. Rosie had finally had her baby and Ron was finally going to meet his grandchild. He just _knew_ this wasn't going to end well; not after what his nieces and nephews had just spent hours discussing. But Ron Weasley would always be a Gryffindor at heart. He could do this.

Ron steeled himself as he followed his wife into their daughter's hospital room. He had faced some of the greatest horrors known to man—Professor Snape's classes, the first _and_ second coming of Lord Voldemort, Hermione's cooking, etc.—without any lasting damage. There was no reason to suggest that he could not also survive meeting his first grandchild and finally discovering what unfortunate name the poor kid had been given.

As he entered the room, Ron immediately took in the scene before him. Rose sat on the single hospital bed, looking tired but proud and holding a bundle of white blankets in her arms. Scorpius was seated on the edge of the bed next to her with one arm around his wife, with his free hand he gently stroked the cheek of the baby sleeping in Rose's embrace. Rose looked up as they all filed in, a jubilant smile on her face.

"Would you like to meet your grandson?" She asked softly.

Astoria and Hermione gave twin gasps of delight and went to stand on either side of the bed.

"I think he's going to have the Malfoy hair," Astoria stated, reaching a hand out to touch the light wisp of hair that stuck out of the blanket. "He looks just like you when you were born, Scorpius."

"He's beautiful, dear," Hermione told her daughter, smiling happily as she took in the new family before her.

"Women…" Draco muttered under his breath. Ron merely grunted in reply; he was not at all capable of forming any other kind of response. He knew what came next…

"What have you named him?" Hermione asked.

Rose looked back up from staring at her baby once more and smiled in the direction of the two new grandfathers hovering by the wall.

"Ronald Draco Malfoy."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"This is incredibly dull," Fred declared, slumping even lower in his seat than he already had been sitting.

"You can say that again," Roxanne muttered.

"This is incredibly dull," Fred intoned listlessly once more.

Roxanne smacked him upside the head. "I didn't _actually_ mean you should say it again! _Moron_."

It had been nearly an hour since the Healer had first come in and announced that the baby had finally been born. In that time, almost the entire older generation of the Weasley family had made its way to the hospital and in to see the new baby _before_ all of the cousins. Said cousins were not at all bitter about the advantages their aunts and uncles were taking of their seniority within the family. Not at all.

In all actuality, things would have been marginally better if any of them had bothered stopping back in the waiting room to say goodbye. But that had yet to occur, so the cousins were still anxiously awaiting to find out what the baby's gender was, let alone the name.

"But it _is_ incredibly dull," Louis agreed. "We don't even have Uncle Ron here to antagonize anymore."

"What more could we do, though?" Dominique questioned. "We went through all of the constellations already."

"There's a list of stars in here too," Lucy said, indicating the book lying in her lap. "We could have gone through those as well. But I guess Uncle Ron will just never know what a truly spectacular present he picked out for me."

"You're deluding yourself if you think your godfather actually buys your presents," Molly informed her sister. "Clearly Aunt Hermione's the one who put the thought into getting you a book. And a book that turned out to be bloody useful at that."

"We could wallow in misery and self-pity because no one ever tells us what's going on," Albus suggested, answering Dominique. "But then again, we're already doing that…"

"And it's not like we can go explore out in the hospital or anything," Lily picked up where her brother left off, "Because someone has already destroyed a good portion of it."

At this point, she shot her oldest brother a glare.

"Is anyone ever going to let me forget that?" James asked rhetorically. "I mean, I still consider it more redecorating than destroying, but it was an accident either way. Just let it go already, people!"

"Don't worry, James," Victoire told him sweetly causing Teddy to unconsciously tighten his previously careless embrace of her shoulder. "I'll let it go after I've smothered you to death with a pillow in your sleep."

"Is it legal for you to actually be in the same country as your children?" James questioned, attempting to scoot his chair away from his frightening cousin, but failing due to the fact that it was quite firmly affixed to the floor. Also, he was seated in a corner.

Victoire merely narrowed her eyes at him once more but did not deign to answer.

"We could…" Dominique began but trailed off, at a loss for suggestions of what they could do to further occupy their time. As her luck would have it, however, the door to the waiting room opened once more almost immediately after she had ceased speaking.

"Gran!" James said happily. "You made it!"

"I made it here, and now I'm leaving again," Molly Weasley informed her grandchildren.

"But you just got here!" Molly protested. "Stay and chat with us for a bit; we're all going mad with boredom because they won't let us in to see the baby yet. _Apparently_ there's a limit on how many people can go in to visit at a time."

"Yeah," Albus joined in, "Some snarky Healer told us that we should have expected that because we're Weasleys."

"It's probably my fault," Victoire admitted.

"From when we had Dora and John?" Teddy questioned. "Really?"

"No…" Victoire said slowly, "Er…from when _I_ was born. Apparently it was a big deal."

"Of course it was," The elder Molly declared. "You were my first grandchild. But either way, I've actually already been in to see the baby. I ran into Percy and Audrey on my way in and they told me where Rosie's room is. And I must say, little Ronald is absolutely adorable."

"Er…Gran?" Fred questioned. "I know Uncle Ron is your youngest son and all, but don't you think it's about time you stopped calling him 'little'?"

"And shouldn't you be more concerned about what the new baby looks like?" Roxanne continued where her brother had left off. "Although I'm quite sure that Uncle Ron is quite…er…_adorable_, too."

Molly merely looked at her grandchildren with confusion. Realization dawned on her, however, as she took in all of their clueless expressions—she chose to ignore the additional looks written across several of their faces that were obviously of concern for her mental state.

"But didn't anyone tell you?" Molly asked incredulously. "About the baby?" She pressed when they all continued to appear clueless.

"Just what the Healer said when he first came in here," Dominique stated. "That the baby was born. You're the first person to actually come in here after seeing the new bundle of joy."

"Ronald _is_ the baby," Molly told her grandchildren slowly. "They named him Ronald Draco Malfoy." She glanced at the clock on the wall then and gave a slight start, "Goodness, would you look at the time? I really have to get back to your Granddad. He wasn't feeling very well today, or else he would have come with me. But I'll be sure to tell him that you're each planning to stop by to see him sometime soon. Bye, dears."

And without another word she had left the waiting room, leaving her grandchildren alone once more. It was silent in the room for all of five seconds before…

"They named him _what_?" James burst out. "Ronald? _Really_?"

"Well we knew that a constellation name was a long shot," Lily reluctantly rationalized. "Going through them was more to make Uncle Ron squirm. Along the way I guess we kind of convinced ourselves that they would actually do it, though."

"Rosie always ruins our fun," Molly pouted.

"You have to admit, though, it takes skill to do it without even knowing it or meaning to," Teddy stated, impressed.

"While in labor," Victoire added in quickly.

"Fine," Molly conceded, "But really, this is just another thing to add to the list of reasons why Rose is just too smart for her own good."

"I can't believe you're still going on about that," Lucy stated with a roll of her eyes. "It's been _years_."

"Moving on," James said swiftly, "I think this is our sign."

"Our sign for what?" Roxanne asked.

"Our sign that it is officially about time we gave up on depending on Rosie for amusement," James replied. "Clearly she's never going to do any wrong in Uncle Ron's eyes, now that she's named his first grandchild after him."

"Very true," Fred agreed.

"But what are we going to do with our lives now?" Louis demanded. "I mean, yeah, Uncle Ron has always been a pretty dependable source of amusement for us. But I really don't think it'll be as good without Rosie."

"And Uncle Ron's dismay over Hugo's utter lack of reverence for the Cannons is such old news," Albus agreed. "At this point it's just sad that Uncle Ron can't just give up on his only son as a lost cause and move on with his life."

The assembled Weasley and Potter cousins all indicated their agreement to that.

"There _is_ always the original plan," James spoke up suddenly.

"Run away and join the circus?" Dominique asked. "But I actually _like_ my job."

"Yes, yes, we all know that you're Merlin's gift to French Quidditch," James said patiently. "But I was referring to our _other_ original plan. The one where we make all of Gran's dreams come true and find Uncle Charlie a girlfriend."

"Almost all of her dreams," Lily was quick to amend. "I really don't think Uncle Bill is ever going to cut his hair."

"Shame he got rid of the earring though," Albus commented in an offhand manner. "That fang was seriously cool."

"I thought we all agreed years ago that finding someone Uncle Charlie might eventually settle down with would be a hopeless cause," Molly stated.

"Yeah, but let's be honest here, what _else_ are we going to do with our lives?" Fred rationalized.

"Be responsible, mature adults. Finally," Lucy muttered under her breath.

"Nothing," Fred stated. "Exactly."

"So we're giving this a shot?" Roxanne clarified, then shrugged. "Well, I suppose an actual challenge is long-past due for us. Shall we get to work planning things, then?"

As anyone had yet to come tell the cousins they could finally meet the new baby, they opted to formulate their newest plan in hushed tones, so as not to be overheard—not that there was actually anyone nearby to overhear anything they said. They had just about finalized everything in Plan GCG (otherwise known as 'Get Charlie a Girl'), when Harry and Ginny finally returned to the waiting room.

"Two of you can go in to see the baby, now," Ginny informed the group of cousins. "He really is quite adorable." She looked pointedly at her children, now. "I'm not going to be around forever, you three. I should very much like my future grandchildren to know me _before_ I become a ghost."

"That woman is bloody mental," Albus stated after his parents had left, shaking his head. "She's barely over fifty. I guarantee you _I'll_ be a grandparent before she graces us with her ghostly presence."

"All the same," Lily said, "I'm only twenty-four. That's entirely too young to be thinking about getting married, let alone having kids."

"That's older than I was when I got married," Albus pointed out. "And I thought Darren wants to get married."

"And look what a disappointment you're turning out to be," Lily told him, choosing to ignore his second statement. She and her long-term boyfriend would get married when they bloody well felt like it. "Where are those grandkids mum wants so badly?"

"Eh…Alice and I will get around to it eventually," Albus said with an unconcerned shrug. "And what about James? He's older _and_ he's been married just as long. Why aren't you bothering _him_?"

"Emma has a career," Lily said pointedly. "She'll have kids when she's ready to retire, just like mum."

James could only nod his agreement.

"Quidditch players," Albus sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Potters," Roxanne retorted, just stopping herself from childishly sticking her tongue out at her younger cousin. "Now, moving on before we really get distracted by the baby, are we all clear on what needs to be done the next time one of us sees Uncle Charlie?"

"Did someone say my name?" A voice asked before anyone could answer Roxanne.

As one, the group turned to see none other than their Uncle Charlie standing in the doorway to the waiting room.

"Uncle Charlie!" Dominique cried happily at the same time as James' loud declaration of, "No!"

"Hey kids," Charlie said with a grin, making his way into the room, a short, dark-haired woman trailing behind him. The cousins all made note of the stranger, but none of them were able to inquire about her identity as Charlie continued to speak, "Where is everyone else? Mum sent me a letter telling me that Rosie was having her baby, and she made it sound like I was going to be disinherited if I didn't come right away."

"My mum and dad just left," Lily informed him. "Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey were here earlier, but they had to leave after they saw Rose and the baby. The same with Uncle George and Aunt Angie—I think they had some sort of emergency with the store, though."

"And my parents both had to get back to work," Louis picked up where Lily had left off. "But I'm pretty sure all of the new grandparents are still in there, along with Hugo."

"You can go in right now, if you'd like, Uncle Charlie," Victoire told him. "It's back through that door, three hallways that way, the second room on the left. When Aunt Ginny left she said that two more people could go in."

"Might as well," Charlie said with a shrug. "It's probably better to reassure mum that I still want to be a part of this family sooner rather than later."

"Gran already left, too," Lucy informed her uncle. "Granddad is feeling a bit ill today, so she had to get back home to him."

"Good thing we were planning to stop at the Burrow after this, then," Charlie said with a shrug, before turning to the woman beside him. "Let's head in there now. Mum really will have my hide if I show up at home and it's after dinnertime."

The woman made no move to follow him, though, as he turned to go back through the door they had entered through. Rather, she folded her arms across her chest and nodded pointedly in the direction of the cousins when Charlie gave her a questioning look. Realization quickly dawned on him, however, as he swiftly took her hand and pulled her beside him, facing his assembled nieces and nephews once more.

"I completely forgot," Charlie apologized. "You lot haven't met yet."

"You really don't take people home to meet the family very often, do you?" The woman said with a shake of her head, though she was smiling.

"This is Bernadette," Charlie told his nieces and nephews, putting an arm around the dark-haired woman's shoulders. "She's my girlfriend."

His announcement was met with a shocked silence from the Weasley and Potter cousins. _Uncle Charlie_ had a _girlfriend_? Charlie appeared not to notice their shock, though, as he continued speaking without pause.

"Bernie, meet my nieces and nephews—well, most of them, anyway," He amended. "Lily, Lucy, Dominique, Roxanne, Fred, James, Louis, Albus, Teddy, Victoire, and Molly."

Although Charlie had indicated each person as he said each name, Bernadette still looked slightly overwhelmed.

"I'm sure I'll get all of your names straight soon enough," She told the cousins. "It might take a while, but I do believe I'll be sticking around. Won't I, Charlie?"

"You really won't have a reason to if mum kills me," Charlie informed her, glancing at his watch. He dropped his arm from her shoulder and grabbed one of her hands, tugging her back in the direction of the door. "C'mon, we'll go see the baby and then I'll take you to the Burrow."

"It was lovely meeting all of you!" Bernadette called over her shoulder. But then Charlie had pulled her through the door and, in the silence permeating the waiting room, the pair's footsteps could be heard fading down the hallway.

The silence lasted for a moment longer after the footsteps had gone, then…

"That's it!" James declared. "I quit! I give up! Everyone in this family is too bloody unpredictable. I'm going to go find my wife."

The cousins watched in further shock as James stood from his chair and stalked from the room, heading in the opposite direction that Charlie and Bernadette had turned.

"Well…" Teddy finally spoke up, "Who ever said that having a baby wasn't eventful?"

"Yeah, but…Uncle Charlie getting a girlfriend?" Dominique questioned. "On his own? We all thought he was going to be a bachelor forever."

"Gran's going to have a field day when they show up at the Burrow," Lily agreed.

"She'll start planning their wedding immediately," Lucy stated.

"Never mind that we all know Uncle Charlie probably won't get around to proposing for at _least_ a few more years," Molly interjected. "If he ever does, that is."

"I really don't know why James left in such a hurry," Fred commented. "This couldn't be off to a better start if we really had enacted our plan."

Meanwhile, several rooms and hallways over, Ron Weasley was happily oblivious to everything that had been going on with his nieces and nephews since they had parted ways earlier. He had a silly grin firmly in place on his face as he watched Hugo pass off the baby to Charlie, who had apparently finally gotten a girl.

Ronald. They had named the baby Ronald.

Not Camelopardalis or Microscopium or Ophiuchus or Serpens. Ronald.

Yes, Ronald Draco, technically. But that really couldn't deter Ron's good mood.

_Flashback_

"_Naturally you'll wanted to call him by his middle name," Draco said, smiling happily down at the tiny baby asleep in his wife's arms. "It's a very aristocratic thing to do."_

"_We aren't aristocrats, dad," Scorpius patiently reminded his father._

"_Well you can start now," Draco said with a very agreeable tone. "There's no time like the present, after all."_

"_How very muggle of you, Malfoy," Hermione said with a grin._

"_I'm very worldly," Draco replied with an offhand shrug. Then, back to his son, "You won't even consider it?"_

"_Well…" Scorpius began slowly, glancing down at Rose who drifted off after passing the baby off. "I have been thinking about possible nicknames."_

"_Do share with us, Scorp," Hugo said dryly, and Ron could easily spot the amusement spread openly across his son's face. "What nicknames have you come up with for Ronald Draco?"_

"_Well," Scorpius said again, "I was thinking…Ronald Draco…R.D. …Artie, maybe."_

"_No."_

_The voice that spoke the single syllable so adamantly came from the person everyone in the room had thought to be sleeping. As one, the occupants of the room all turned to see Rose pushing herself to sit up in her bed again, clearly awake._

"_No," She said again, her stern gaze fixed on her husband. "If I had wanted to call my son 'Artie' then I would have _named_ him Artie. Or, at the very least, I would have come up with a name that Artie could _reasonably_ be a nickname for. But we didn't do that. _We_ agreed on Ronald Draco. Therefore we shall be calling him by his first name: Ronald. Not Draco. Not Artie. _Ronald_. Are we clear on that?"_

"_Yes, dear," Scorpius said immediately. "Ronald it is."_

_End Flashback_

Ron couldn't help but smile even wider at the memory.

Ronald. His first grandchild was named Ronald.

In his younger days, Ron Weasley had been less than fond of Draco Malfoy. With age, he had eventually (but barely) grown past this when Al had befriended Scorpius. And then he had had to admit the final defeat of his hatred when Rose had first revealed that she was dating Scorpius and then, years later, that was engaged to the young Malfoy. And of course he was nothing less than overjoyed when he found out that he was going to be a grandfather. Because, really, what better thing could there be than a Malfoy who was also a Weasley?

Of course, beyond that, he had been legitimately excited to become a grandfather. Until the brief scare (which _felt_ as if it had lasted forever) when his nieces and nephews had seemed convinced that the baby would be named after a constellation, that is.

But Ron's nieces and nephews had been wrong. Rose and Scorpius had named their first child Ronald.

Ron smiled once more as his gaze followed his grandson being passed off to yet another set of eagerly waiting arms.

Yes, he was _quite_ glad that his first grandchild hadn't been named after a constellation.

**a/n-As of right now I'm not planning to further continue this lovely little series, but that's mostly because I don't have any ideas for more story lines. I have quite a bit of back story for all of the characters though, so I may end up revisiting some of them one day in the future. But for now, I hope you enjoyed the story (all 4, actually) and thanks for reading!**

**UPDATE-as of 11/26/12 I have tentatively decided to continue writing stories that take place in the same universe as these stories. I have already posted a oneshot entitled A Diabolical Plan and am currently working on a sequel to it. They'll go back to before Library Conspiracy, and will focus on the friendship between Al and Scorpius.**


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